What Non-U.S. Citizens Need to Know About Starting a Business in the U.S. with Melaney LaGrone, Esq.

Transcription: 

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Hi, everyone. I’m Dayna Thomas, Esq, and welcome to Launched and Legal, where it’s my mission to help you strategize, legalize, and monetize your business. I’m so excited that you’re watching, because today and in every show, I’ll be sharing the best practices and tips to take your business and brand to the next level. Now, I just love hearing stories of people who started their career one way and then transitioned to doing something that they really love. Today, we get just that. Joining us is attorney Melaney LaGrone, the owner and managing attorney of LaGrone law, an immigration and criminal defense firm in Lawrenceville, Georgia. However, her previous career was actually in law enforcement as a police officer for 10 years.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Now as a crimmigration attorney, Melaney is a strong advocate for bridging the gap between the police and the citizens they serve. In addition, Melaney is the host of a radio show called Beyond The Border and a podcast called Black State Blue Nation, where she talks about the community, policing, and the need for change. Today, Melaney will talk to us about the intersection between crimmigration and entrepreneurship and what non-US citizens need to know about starting businesses here in the US. Melaney, thank you so much for being here today.

Melaney LaGrone, Esq.:
Thank you, Dayna, for having me. I’m so excited to be here.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Awesome. I know I’m going to learn a lot from this conversation because I don’t know much about immigration as it relates to business, and I felt like there are a lot of entrepreneurs or people who want to be entrepreneurs that have an immigration status that is not a US citizen. It’ll be awesome to educate me, as well as the viewers about how they can actually live that American dream of entrepreneurship here in the US. But before we get into that, I was excited to learn about your background. Tell us about your background in the police department before you opened your law firm.

Melaney LaGrone, Esq.:
Yes. I started out as a police officer in the City of Detroit. I had majored in criminal justice at the University of Detroit. Initially I wanted to go work for the US Marshals. Well, they had a big hiring freeze on. Of course, at the time when I graduated, I needed a job needed to pay the bill. I had met so many police officers living in the heart of the city that they were just like, “Hey, we’re hiring. Come on.” I ended up joining the police department and I absolutely loved it. It was a great experience, but it really allowed me to see like the legal system from the inside out. I think that’s how I ended up here being a lawyer afterwards.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Absolutely. We have known each other for several years now, and I have seen your firm just take off and you have like such a niche, I feel. What do you think has contributed to the growth and success of your law firm?

Melaney LaGrone, Esq.:
I really think it’s been my background. Because with me being a former police officer, obviously I can use those skills and that inside knowledge to help our black and brown males in the legal system and really be able to advocate for them because I know what the police are going to say before they get up on the stand and say it. It’s a really good advantage for me for the criminal defense practice. And then when it came to immigration, I really did feel like our brown males or anyone that was immigrating or immigrants, they were almost treated like we were, almost like that modern day kind of slavery type of thing.

Melaney LaGrone, Esq.:
I felt like they just needed a strong advocate for them as well to just be able to bridge the gap between the police, immigrants, the legal system, and everything, just kind of bring it all together to be able to work for them.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
That makes sense, an in comes Melaney LaGrone. That’s fantastic. Like I said, I feel like it’s an awesome niche. We actually work together to trademark your tagline, which is “Behind every man is a strong woman,” which I absolutely love. Tell us about what that means to you and the work that you do.

Melaney LaGrone, Esq.:
For me, Dayna, when I decided to try to trademark that slogan, I just felt like they needed a strong advocate. They needed a woman behind them to really, really just advocate for them. As you know, our black and brown men, they get the short end of the stick, not only in the legal system, but in employment. And even from us as women, obviously men aren’t… They have their quirks and they have things that they do wrong. But sometimes we don’t give them the benefit of the doubt. I just felt like sometimes they just need somebody to help them and give them the benefit of the doubt, and that was going to be me.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
That is fantastic. Well, I love the branding behind that, because that brand really exudes just the power that you are not just as a woman, but as an attorney with the background that you have. I feel like just those two worlds together just makes it an amazing story, but then an amazing advocate for the people in your community as well. I think that’s fantastic. I know in our prior conversations, we were talking about the intersection between immigration and business law, and you mentioned that you are growing your practice to include business immigration. Tell us what that is and how you can help in that area.

Melaney LaGrone, Esq.:
Okay, absolutely. Within the scope of the practicing of immigration, there’s family-based. Those are like all of your petitions for families, your marriage based petitions, any sort of like domestic violence petitions, fiance visas, things like that. And then on the other spectrum, there’s your business immigration. What that allows for is for businesses to actually reach out to other countries and bring in immigrants to be able to fill that gap, that employment gap, because for whatever reason, they can’t… They have all these open positions and they’re not able to fill it.

Melaney LaGrone, Esq.:
They’re able to apply for certain types of visas to bring in immigrants from other countries and go ahead and fill that gap. And that’s essentially what business immigration is. It’s just immigration, immigrants, and business.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
And business. It seems like it’s simple, but I’m so immersed in the business and entrepreneurship world, but I do not hear a lot of that. Again, Melaney, you are finding these areas that have these holes and just plugging yourself right in. I’m so happy and excited to see how your story unfolds and the growth of your firm as well. Does a person’s immigration status affect their ability to start a business here in the US?

Melaney LaGrone, Esq.:
As all lawyer answers are, it depends.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
It depends.

Melaney LaGrone, Esq.:
That standard answer. When we’re looking at immigrants and business, immigrants, that word, just simply means anyone that was born in a foreign country that lives in the United States. You could be a lawful permanent resident, which means that you have a green card and you’re here lawfully. For those, yes, you can just go out and start a business. You go get your EIN number and you just go for it. Make sure you got to pay your taxes, things like that. And then you have those immigrants that are here that are undocumented, and that just simply means that they don’t have legal status. Contrary to what people believe, they can actually start businesses here as well because all you need is a tax ID number.

Melaney LaGrone, Esq.:
They can’t get social security numbers, but they can get a tax ID number. A lot of the construction companies that you see and things like that, those are immigrants who started the business with an EIN number.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
How does one that doesn’t have a social security number get an EIN number? Is that something they can just do? Is there a different process for them? What’s that like?

Melaney LaGrone, Esq.:
Nope, yep, you can just do it, because it takes place of like your social security number. That’s why they’re able to go ahead and get an EIN number and be able to work legally here in the states. You do hear a lot of times where there’s immigrants that are working here illegally in the states. That means that they don’t have a work authorization and they don’t have a business. They’re just working. But if you want to work legally here in the United States and you’re undocumented, meaning that you don’t have status, yes, you can just go apply for a tax ID number.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
This is so good to know because I am an entrepreneurship advocate for everyone, right? I think that a lot of people who have a certain immigration status are kind of hesitant to try to make more of themselves here because they’re scared or nervous that there’s going to be some type of negative effect or they can’t or the rejection that might be there. I think that people watching this will be excited who don’t have this information and think that it’s not available to them as well. You can get your EIN number. You can start a business. If you have questions about that, of course, Melaney can help you with that.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
I know that you also work in like immigration cases, right? If a person has a pending immigration case and they do have a business, how does that affect their business? What have you seen and how can you help in that situation?

Melaney LaGrone, Esq.:
A couple different things. If someone is in removal proceedings, which means that they’re in deportation proceedings, and that simply means that they are here without status and the government caught up with them, and now they are in the process of being deported. The process can sometimes take a long time and it sometimes takes a short time. For them, if they let’s say do have a business here, I guess what I would say is make sure that there’s someone here in the United States maybe that could take over the business or be able to really help with the family and the business and things like that if they do get deported. Because the only way that you can stay in the United States is if you have a legal way to stay.

Melaney LaGrone, Esq.:
If you’re not married to a United States citizen, if you’re not claiming asylum or temporary protective status, or any other immigration benefit, a legal way to stay, then you will be deported, unfortunately. For anyone else, let’s say that is here with lawful status and they’re a lawful permanent resident, they already have their green card, then nothing affects them for the most part in immigration. Of course, criminal activity can always affect you. But as far as your business and things like that, they’re perfectly fine.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
That’s interesting that you say that, because what you mentioned about the undocumented immigrants and making sure that you have someone that can carry on the business and take care of your family, that goes for every entrepreneur, not just those who may have a pending immigration case. All entrepreneurs need to have some type of strategy as if they were not here anymore. That just triggered that in my mind because that’s real gems and information for everyone. Thank you for sharing that. Melaney, I feel like there’s so much to touch on in this topic. I love that you are focusing a lot more or transitioning more to the entrepreneurship with the businesses because you’re an entrepreneur yourself.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
I feel like, which happened for me, is once you become an entrepreneur, then you see the benefit and the value. Yes, it takes hard work, but then you want that for more people, right? Since the people that you are able to touch are your current clients, it’s like, why not help them with this thing that you’re enjoying and that I’m enjoying called entrepreneurship in a way that’s unique for them. Thank you for the work that you do. Thank you for sharing your information here. For those that want to keep in touch with you and learn more about your services, how can they stay in touch?

Melaney LaGrone, Esq.:
You can reach me on social media @LaGroneLaw. Our telephone number is 678-250-5449. Our number down in the Virgin Islands is 340-626-0778. You can find me all over the place.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
That’s awesome. And that’s another conversation for the business establishment in the Virgin Islands. We will definitely have you back because we want to learn how you are living luxurious and being able to travel from the US and the Virgin Islands and your business is not skipping a beat. Thank you, Melaney. I appreciate your time.

Melaney LaGrone, Esq.:
Thank you, Dayna, so much for having me.

Dayna Thomas, Esq.:
Be sure to share today’s show with someone who can benefit and visit MyASBN.com and subscribe. If you have any questions or comments about today’s show, I would love to hear from you, send me a message or comment on Instagram at @daynathomaslaw. Remember to tune in next week and every week to make sure your business is launched and legal.